schema:articleBody
| - Belarus has declared two senior British diplomats "persona non grata," a foreign ministry spokesman said on television on Monday. "A decision has been made to declare two diplomats of the British embassy persona non grata" on Sunday, spokesman Anatoly Glaz said, citing the "destructive nature" of their activities. Glaz claimed that their work was not compatible with the status of a diplomat. Belarus's ONT television channel said the diplomats had already left Belarus. The channel named the diplomats as Lisa Thumwood, deputy head of the UK mission in Belarus, and defence attaché Timothy Wight-Boycott. Citing law enforcement, the TV channel said the diplomats had been collecting information about Belarus's protests and the political situation in general. The British diplomats have also repeatedly met with representatives of rights groups and non-governmental organisations, Belarus said. Glaz was not immediately available for comment. For the past three months Belarus has been gripped by unprecedented demonstrations, with tens of thousands taking to the streets on Sundays to protest against the disputed re-election of strongman Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power for more than two decades. In late September, Britain and Canada became the first major nations to slap sanctions on Lukashenko. They imposed sanctions on Lukashenko, his son and senior regime figures for a string of alleged human rights violations. Last month Britain joined several eastern European nations in withdrawing its ambassador from strife-torn Belarus. On Sunday, police detained 1,048 people at demonstrations in Belarus, rights group Viasna said. It was the largest number of protesters that police have swept up since a brutal post-vote crackdown by security services saw nearly 7,000 detained over several days and sparked widespread claims of torture and abuse in detention centres. vk-as/cdw
|